Wikipedia:WikiProject Proposed deletion patrolling

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WikiProject proposed deletion patrolling works to patrol those articles listed in all articles proposed for deletion to assist in Wikipedia's proposed deletion process. A goal of the WikiProject is to encourage the patrolling of proposed deletion on Wikipedia. Proposed deletion, unlike the normal deletion process, does not attract very much attention. Furthermore, the proposed deletion process can be confusing to editors who aren't familiar with it. The goal of this project is to not only encourage patrolling, but also to make it easier for all of us by sharing the workload. It's hard to know who else is patrolling proposed deletion, because articles that are de-prodded aren't visible.

Contents

See Wikipedia:Proposed deletion for the policy page. To summarize, proposed deletion may be used to delete articles where the deletion is not controversial, but where the article does not meet the speedy deletion criteria. Articles proposed for deletion can be deleted after seven days without further process if no one objects.

An article is proposed for deletion when an editor adds {{subst:prod|reason}} to the top of an article. This will add the {{dated prod}} template, with the date filled in, to the top of the article. In order to contest a proposed deletion, just remove the {{dated prod}} tag from the article. Some of the rules about proposed deletion:

WP:PROD is only for articles and files, not templates, categories, redirects, Wikipedia namespace stuff, or talk pages, et cetera.

Once the {{dated prod}} tag is removed from the article, the deletion is considered contested, and should not be re-prodded.

WP:AFD overrides prod; an article should not have a prod tag if it is being discussed at AfD, or has been in the past.

WP:SPEEDY deletion may be used on articles proposed for deletion; speedy deletion overrides prod, but tagging for speedy deletion does not make it necessary to de-prod.

It is acceptable to recreate an article that was previously deleted via prod. Such recreated articles are not eligible for speedy deletion as reposted material. If the exact old article is desired back, please make your request at Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion.

When proposing deletion, an edit summary must be used (preferably "proposing deletion", "prod", or something similar).

When removing a {{dated prod}} tag, the edit summary should note this.

Determine if previous AfD relates to the proposed page or to a page previously published in the same title where the subject topics were not the same.

If prod and AfD are related, deprod and leave {{subst:deprod-reprod|(pagename)}} ~~~~ on the prodder's User talk page. If prod and AfD are unrelated, add "|priorafd=unrelated" to the prod template in the following manner: {{Proposed deletion/dated|priorafd=unrelated}} and let the prod run its course.

Prod and AfD on the same article

Check the article

Deprod. If the Prod was added after the AfD was begun, leave {{subst:deprod-reprod|(pagename)}} ~~~~ on the prodder's User talk page. Otherwise, consider leaving {{subst:adw|(pagename)}} ~~~~ to inform them of the AfD.

Some words of caution. Use your judgement, but be careful. Specifically,

The lure of theory: Don't deprod an article just because in theory, someone somewhere would object to its deletion. If you don't actually believe an article has a snowball's chance in hell of being kept, there's no reason to deprod.

Respect established editors: It's good to educate users who are confused about proposed deletion. However, seasoned, experienced editors are likely to already know about it: in those cases, consider leaving a personalized message, or just not leaving a message to the prodder. The templates may seem a bit like warnings, although they aren't meant to be.

We aren't the only ones: We are not the only line of defense against inappropriate deletion via WP:PROD. In the end, an article that has been proposed for deletion for 7 days still must be overtly deleted by an administrator. They are supposed to look at the article and make sure the prod is valid before deleting, and they do.

However, don't think that proposed deletion patrolling isn't worthwhile: it is! By doing this, we ease the burden of the admins, and we are especially more likely to do well at educating users when they have misunderstood prod or related policies. Also, while prod isn't designed for it, a prod tag on certain articles may be a call for improvement, and the encyclopedia may be improved through your attention.

If you are interested in proposed deletion patrolling, please add your name to the bottom of this list. Consider saying how often you plan to look at the proposed deletion articles. You can also add Category:WikiProject proposed deletion patrollers to your userpage to become part of the WikiProject proposed deletion patrollers.

Robert Walker (talk) 03:45, 31 January 2011 (UTC) I like researching into sources for articles so can help by adding a few links to an article which is notable but got proposed for deletion mainly because the author is new to Wikipedia and doesn't know about the process. Will patrol occasionally when I have time

I Jethrobot (talk) 20:23, 27 June 2011 (UTC) I enjoy the discussion process behind deletion and when an article is notable, I enjoy the hunt of the search. I have been patrolling daily, though that is likely due to my free time. I am sure it will average out to about weekly in the next few months.